China Bourse May Extend Tuesday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last five trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had spiked more than 110 points or 3.3 percent. The Shanghai Composite now sits just above the 3,420-point plateau and it may open lower again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative ahead of key U.S. inflation data later today. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The SCI finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and resource and energy companies.

For the day, the index slumped 48.10 points or 1.39 percent to finish at 3,421.97 after trading between 3,402.04 and 3,489.42. The Shenzhen Composite Index sank 17.25 points or 0.81 percent to end at 2,116.33.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.66 percent, while Bank of China fell 0.42 percent, China Construction Bank lost 0.63 percent, China Merchants Bank tumbled 1.93 percent, Agricultural Bank of China sank 0.85 percent, China Life Insurance surrendered 3.95 percent, Jiangxi Copper stumbled 2.04 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) plunged 3.93 percent, Yankuang Energy rose 0.32 percent, PetroChina skidded 1.11 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) dropped 0.80 percent, Huaneng Power slumped 0.95 percent, China Shenhua Energy retreated 1.19 percent, Gemdale declined 0.83 percent, Poly Developments slid 0.82 percent and China Vanke was down 1.18 percent. The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened slightly higher but quickly headed south and stayed in the red, finishing with modest losses.

The Dow stumbled 382.15 points or 0.86 percent to finish at 43,910.98, while the NASDAQ slipped 17.36 points or 0.09 percent to close at 19,281.40 and the S&P 500 sank 17.36 points or 0.29 percent to end at 5,983.99.

The pullback on Wall Street reflected profit taking as some traders looked to cash in on the recent strength in the markets following the U.S. elections.

Also, traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the highly anticipated report on consumer price inflation, due out later today.

Oil prices edged up only a bit on Tuesday after OPEC lowered its global oil demand forecast for 2025, while the dollar's continued strength hurt as well. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December rose $0.08 at $68.12 a barrel.